Ngai Ning Yu
b. 2003 from Hong Kong
lives and works in London, United Kingdom
In her latest series contemplating the notion of 'Home', Yu explores the contrast of presence and absence in spaces touched by human intervention. In the construction of spaces that live on in memory and in artworks that reflect upon what was left behind, the imagery becomes immortalised imprints of time passing in a fleeting existence. In her paintings, subject matter is allowed to stay frozen in the stillness of a single moment, a state of being that cannot be returned to. The artist works from her photos and memories of what she considers home, creating indirect self-portraits that house a deeply nostalgic and lonely undertone. Yu's canvases also resemble archetypes of a space eerily familiar, leaving viewers halfway resolved in an anonymous, almost template state of existence.
“My paintings verbalise the hidden images that can be triggered by a certain sensory experience. Despite the detachment that comes from accumulation of lived experiences, certain triggers like the cast of light can bring me back to a memory or impression of home.” This peculiar manifestation of imagery from an emotional response forms the beginning of Yu’s creative process, and the grey area between memory and invention is where her paintings reside.
Photograph: Toria Eve, The Art Thread
Education
2022 - 2025
University of the Arts London
First Class Honours Bachelors degree in Fine Art: Painting at Camberwell College of the Arts, University of the Arts London
2022
University of the Arts London
Distinction in Specialist Art: Painting - Foundation Diploma in Art & Design
2021
Discovery College
International Baccalaureate Bilingual Diploma under a Visual Arts scholarship
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
8 November - 6 December - Southwark Park Galleries Annual Open at Lake Gallery, London
Autumn 2026 - Solo exhibition presented by Delphian Gallery at Unit 1 Gallery, London
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
24 October - 22 November - 'The Graduate Art Show' at Vanner Gallery, Salisbury
23 October - 1 November - Delphian Open Call Winners Exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery, London
26 September - 1 November - 'For a lot of little reasons' at The Axe, London
SELECTED SOLO & GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 - Graduates Exhibition at Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London
2025 - 'Resonance' at The Axe, London
2025 - 'Vital Void' at Tiderip Gallery, London
2025 - 'Love Me Tender' group exhibition at Lambs Tail Gallery, London
2025 - Undergraduate Degree Show at Camberwell College of the Arts, London
2025 - 'Home' group exhibition at Arbeit Gallery, London
2025 - 'Open House' group exhibition at Winns Gallery, London
2025 - 'Walls of Anubis' group exhibition at The Crypt Gallery, London
2025 - The Other Art Fair with Riot Soup at Truman Brewery, London
2025 - 'What Now' group exhibition at Lake Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, London
2024 - ‘Renters!’ group exhibition at Safehouse 1, Peckham, London
2024 - ‘Days Bygone, Days To Come’ co-curated and co-developed group exhibition at hArtslane Gallery, New Cross, London
2024 - ‘Milk and Honey’ poetry-inspired group exhibition at Brixton Library, London
2024 - Affordable Art Fair UK with Made in Arts London at Hampstead Heath, London
2024 ‘Coalesce’ group exhibition at Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London
2024 - ‘The Essence of Being’ self-developed and curated group exhibition at 30 Millbank, London
2023 - ‘Round Table’ 「圓桌」collaboratively curated group exhibition at Belsize Community Library, London
2023 - ‘In Between What Once Was’ - co-curated group exhibition at SU gallery space, Camberwell College of the Arts, London
2023 - ‘The Space Between‘ group exhibition at TM Lighting Gallery, London
2023 - ‘A Sense Of Place’ group exhibition at Ogilvy, Southwark, London
2023 - ‘Before Now, After Then’ group exhibition at Bargehouse Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southwark, London
2020 - group exhibition of finalist artworks of Sovereign Arts Foundation Student Prize art competition at ‘Fine Art Asia’, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
2016-2020 - six solo exhibitions held at Art Square, Discovery Bay Pier, Hong Kong
2019 - exhibition for winning artworks of “Sincerely Me - inspired by Pan Yu Lin” art competition at Chantal Miller Gallery, Asia Society, Hong Kong
2016 - womens-only ‘Art on the Line’ group exhibition and silent auction hosted by the American Women’s Association at The Space, Hong Kong
2015 - ‘I Love’ solo art exhibition at Artland Gallery, Hong Kong
AWARDS
2025 - Overall winner of the 2025 Delphian Open Call
2025 - Longlisted for the Jackson's Art Prize
2020 - Finalist in the Sovereign Art Students Prize
2020 - Recipient of a Visual Arts Scholarship
2019 - First Prize winner of Asia Society’s ‘Sincerely Me - Inspired by Pan Yu Lin’ art competition
2019 - Shortlisted for the UOB ‘Art in Ink Awards’
2018 - Finalist in the Young Artists Development Fund’s ‘Hong Kong Territory-wide Youths Painting Day’
Ngai Ning Yu (b.2003, Hong Kong) completed her Bachelors degree in Fine Art Painting with First Class Honours at the University of the Arts London, graduating in 2025. Her work is rooted in a profoundly nostalgic and often detached perspective, and her paintings exist in the grey area between memory and invention, preserving the impermanence of lived experiences.
Yu has exhibited widely in London and Hong Kong. In 2024, she sold her work at Affordable Art Fair UK in Hampstead Heath with Made in Arts London. Other notable London exhibitions include What Now at Lake Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries (2025), Renters! at Safehouse 1 (2024), and Days Bygone, Days To Come at hArtslane Gallery, New Cross (2024), which she co-curated. She also developed and curated The Essence of Being at 30 Millbank (2024). Further exhibitions include Coalesce at Copeland Gallery, Peckham (2024), Milk and Honey at Brixton Library (2024), Before Now, After Then at Bargehouse Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southwark (2023), and The Space Between at TM Lighting Gallery (2023). Internationally, she exhibited as a finalist for the Sovereign Art Foundation Student Prize at Fine Art Asia in Hong Kong (2020) and held six solo exhibitions at Art Square, Discovery Bay Pier, Hong Kong (2016–2020).
Yu has received multiple awards for her work. She won First Prize in Asia Society’s Sincerely Me – Inspired by Pan Yu Lin competition (2019) and was shortlisted for the UOB Art in Ink Awards the same year. In 2020, she was a finalist for the Sovereign Art Students Prize and was awarded a Visual Arts Scholarship from Discovery College. Her work continues to explore themes of memory, home, and belonging, resonating with a wide audience through her exhibitions and curatorial projects.
